Food for Thought - Big add ons to OD

[Rickliftig]

To begin - I'm posting this query only to provoke discussion. I'd like to brainstorm big ideas that tend to get lost in the feature request list.

The potential for useful tie-ins to Open Dental is great. No other pms program is as easy to work with as far as bridging and developing add-on programs and bridged programs.As you likely know, Bill Starck has created several add-ons - his anesthesia tracking program is stellar.

So in this thread, I'm curious as to what big add-on programs are desired? If there is enough interest, we could chip in to have Jordan's team create one, or even fund our own programmer.

I might as well start the list:

1) an enhanced boilerplate letter generator - the basics are already there, I'd like to add boilerplate paragraphs and insert images from the database.

2) Telephone Bridge - phone number is detected on ring and searched in the database. A pop-up window shows basic information about who is calling along with a link button to their account.Scenario: phone rings, unknown number, pop up window then prompts: new patient? Existing patient from different number? Ignore? Then the automation branches to a new patient form or Problem oriented form or add a phone number. The form would have some sort of branching to guide the front desk. Ie) the patient hasn't been in in three years: confirm address; emergency vs. routine; if problem, where, what, how long?

What are your big ideas? Which of these would be incredible addons as opposed to just being neat features?

[enamelrod]

1. Both of these would be very nice and the phone integration I wish it was like
http://www.getweave.com/recent-news/wea ... video.html

I was just hoping that we could complete so many of the good ides that have been started and have just been pushed to the back burner.

automation, a dashboard that works, a real lab tracker, inventory tracker, but i would settle for just one working.

If I had to pick one i would want phone...new patient calls and a sheet could be pulled up to for a questionnaire..or call insurance and the eligibility verification could pop up. oh the possibilities

[drtech]

Weave looks very nice...would be great to integrate that into OD....even if not fully integrated like weave, it would be great to have a better future contact system for tracking pts and when to call pts back. The recall/planned tracker/unscheduled are all too disconnected difficult to use in real life...

Lab tracking would be great...the current system is a start, but still really is lacking in what you need to know...what are the cases in your lab ready to be seated?

[weave]

Great news! Weave started work on Open Dental integration yesterday! We plan on testing shortly. If you would be interested in more information, feel free to contact me personally at 888-579-5668 or at brandon [at] getweave [dot] com. I'd love to hear more ideas on what kind of integration and features you would like to see.

Thanks,
Brandon Rodman | Weave
888 579 5668 | http://www.getweave.com

[jordansparks]

Feel free to let us know if we need to pass off any events to you guys.

[thinkortho]

Very Random thought. I may be asking for a time travel machine. I have seen things for scheduling out there like Demand Force etc. What if a pt could log into open dental, check their appointment time, how much they owe, and if they need to cancel or reschedule they could online. To cancel an appointment, open dental would give them a couple choices of another day with the same amount of time blocked for the same type of appointment. They cannot cancel and reschedule more than one appointment without calling the office to discuss. I just wish there was a way to allow pts to convienetly cancel and reschedule and save us some time on the phone. Golf courses do similar online things with tee times. I am a big believer in allowing the customer to do some of the work for you. Food for thought.

[jordansparks]

Oh, yes. Of course we've been planning such features for years. It isn't listed in the feature request system, but we are very focused on it. We know that a patient web portal is required as the foundation for much of the technology we plan. We've tried a variety of different patient portals, looking for just the right one. We failed a few times, but we were very successful with our Web Forms. We have programmers assigned to doing nothing but working on web technologies. It's coming at some point.

[enamelrod]

So Brandon what does 300.00 month get you?

[Hersheydmd]

Looks like a fantastic tool, but 300/month is way too expensive. Very few docs will sign up. $99/month like OD will get many subscribers.

[weave]

Great question. Weave is more than just the software that integrates with the practice management software. Weave is also your telephone company. Weave will port over your telephone numbers and then you can drop your current phone company. Because Weave is a VoIP service, you'll need to ensure you have a good internet connection at your office. Unlimited minutes, unlimited long-distance, unlimited lines, two-way text messaging, the Weave software, etc... are all rolled into the $299/month price.

[enamelrod]

Brandon I spoke to you many moons ago when you said your core focus was dentrix users. If i understand you correctly? You want me to pay for phone twice? I have Comcast which is 369 per month for Internet, hd cable250 plus channels and 6 phone(4cable +2land)AS A BUNDLED PACKAGE! If I Remove the phone lines it cost me 349.00 then add your 300.00 per month(+ local and state taxes for 911 service) and throw away my current phone asterisk system?

VoIP does not give me any land lines. So last week when my Internet went down. My alarm system and two of my phone lines still worked . Voip does not have this ability that I'm aware of, I may be wrong. You have a nice product but By bundling the software with the service you are cutting out established practices and cutting out practices that have no need for a large number of phone lines and cutting out people who do not have access or a willingness to pay for more bandwidth. Also I might add what about the cost of equipment or are including that in your price? Just a ton of questions not attacks.

[weave]

Great questions. Let me first say that this is the way of the future. It won't work for everyone, but it will work for most. We are at the very beginning of launching what I can argue is the biggest thing in managing and generating revenue since practice management software was introduced. We tried to build only the software that could work with the current telephone provider. Originally, we did not want to be the service provider because it delayed launching, it cost more money, managing telephone service is difficult, etc... But in the end, it was the only way that we could lay the foundation to offer the most flexible and best software possible. Because we are the telephone service provider, we are in the middle of every single phone call - directing it to the proper place, tracking it, recording it, etc...

Imagine if a phone call came into your practice, and because you are using Weave, it knew that it came from your direct mail piece you sent out last month, identifies that the caller is not a patient, looked up to see which of your employees has the best new patient scheduling stats for the month, checks to see which employee has the best show rate and generates the most revenue per appointment scheduled, checks to see if THAT employee is currently available (not on a call), and then only rings her phone (and the next best employee, if the first doesn't answer after 2 rings or so). When the call is answered, scripting pops up with leading questions that will end with a form to collect the potential new patient's information and schedule an appointment.

Granted, this is just one example. We couldn't do all of this is we weren't the telephone provider. If the Internet goes down in your office, we can route calls to a number of your choice (maybe a cell phone), automatically. We also plan to offer an inbound answering service that completely mimics the dental practice in almost every way possible so that your patients can't tell the difference between Weave and your office (on the phone at least). So, if the power goes out, Internet goes down, you close your office for vacation, Weave will be able to smartly route calls wherever you want, because we can.

The possibilities are literally endless because of being at the root of everything as the service provider. Remember, Weave is just getting started, so we haven't had time to build everything out yet.

Yes, there is hardware required for the system to work. You'll need to buy new phones. Each phone is either $150 or $250, depending on the model. There is no other hardware to buy other than that.

I'd encourage you to schedule a demo with someone at our office. The scope of this is huge and can be better understood during the demo as you call and text into the system to see how everything works.

Keep the questions coming!

[enamelrod]

alarm system over voip?
fax service?
Any issues with firewalls?
Also have you had issues with your vendor for voip not playing nice with vendors who offer internet..
i had this issue with cbeyond and comcast.

which phones? I have polycom phones already.
Which polycom cordless are you compatible with?
How are your polycoms powered?
taxes for 911 service?
what are the additional cost as it says starts at 299
also on your video I didnt see how it bridges with the software..does it just port out the name and contact information? does it allow you to dial from the pms or do you have to do a name search in weave to do this? does it enter the contact information into open dental?Is this a one way bridge?

ANd the wave of the future well that will be about 20 more years before voip really becomes more mainstream. I tested voip out and it still is not as reliable as land lines...

Love the possibilities i am just concerned about the realities